RISE OF A WARRIOR... In the 31st century, the BattleMech is the ultimate war machine. Thirty meters tall, and vaguely, menacingly man-shaped, it is an unstoppable engine of destruction. In the 31st century, the Clans are the ultimate warriors. The result of generations of controlled breeding, Clan Warriors pilot their BattleMechs like no others. In the 31st century, Aidan aspires to be a Warrior of Clan Jade Falcon. To win the right to join his Clan in battle, he must succeed in trials that will forge him into one of the best warriors in the galaxy, or break him completely. In the 31st century, Aidan discovers that the toughest battle is not in the field, but in his head—where failure will cost him the ultimate price: his humanity.
LEGENDS OF THE STAR LEAGUE... The great Star League general, Aleksandr Kerensky. Colonel Archer Christifori, a man with a score to settle. Neilson Geist, on Christmas patrol. MechWarrior Joanna of Clan Jade Falcon. A Sandoval scion. An eleven-year-old girl. Northwind Highlanders. A prisoner of war. They all have two things in common. A universe torn apart by unending warfare. A mission to stand up against the darkness. This compilation contains a selection of eighteen of 2004's best BattleTech fiction pieces, as well as an all new story about young Kerensky by Loren L. Coleman! Includes stories by some of the most celebrated BattleTech authors: Randall N. Bills, Loren L. Coleman, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Robert Thurston, and Michael A. Stackpole, along with stories by new favorites such as Ilsa J. Bick, Jason M. Hardy, Kevin Killiany, Steven Mohan, Jr., Louisa M. Swann, and Phaedra M. Weldon!
THE COMPLETE STORY OF CLAN JADE FALCON’S MOST REVERED WARRIOR! THIS BOX SET CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING NOVELS: WAY OF THE CLANS In the 31st century, the BattleMech is the ultimate war machine. Ten meters tall and armed with devastating weapons, it is an unstoppable engine of destruction. In the 31st century, the Clans are the ultimate warriors. The result of generations of controlled breeding, Clan Warriors pilot their BattleMechs like no others. In the 31st century, Aidan aspires to be a Warrior of Clan Jade Falcon. To win the right to join his Clan in battle, he must succeed in training that will forge him into one of the best warriors in the galaxy—or break him completely. In the 31st century, Aidan discovers that the toughest battle is not on the field, but in his head—where failure will cost the ultimate price: his humanity. BLOODNAME Truebirth: Born in the laboratory, these genetically engineered soldiers train to be the ultimate warriors. They are the elite pilots of the Clan's fearsome BattleMech war machines. Freebirth: Born of the natural union of parents, these too are soldiers, but pale imitations of their Truebirth superiors. Despised for their imperfections, they fight where and when their Clan commands. Aidan has failed his Trial of Position, the ranking test all Truebirth warriors of the Clan Jade Falcon must pass. He is cast out. Disgraced. But with a Bloodname, all past failures are forgiven. With a Bloodname comes respect. With a Bloodname comes honor. Aidan will do anything to gain that name. Even masquerade as the thing he has been taught to despise. A freebirth… FALCON GUARD In 2786, the elite Star League Defense Force fled the Inner Sphere, abandoning the senseless bloodshed ordered by the Successor Lords. Now, almost three hundred years later, the Clans, heirs of the SLDF, turn their eyes back upon their former home. Nothing will stop them from raising the Star League banner over Earth once again. For two years, the Clans’ BattleMech war machines have overwhelmed the armies of the corrupt Successor Lords. Now, on the doorstep of Terra, the Clans must fight one final battle, a battle that will decide the fate of humanity for all time. For Star Colonel Aidan Pryde of Clan Jade Falcon, the battle is more than a question of military conquest. It is an affirmation of the superiority of the Clan way, a way of life that he has sworn to uphold despite his fear that the noble crusade has fallen prey to the lust and ambition of its commanders. But amid the chaos and carnage of battle, he is about to be tested in a way he never thought possible…by a person he has never even met…
Everything has changed. Once the best hunter in his clan, Tev is on a journey he is only beginning to understand. He questions everything he once knew, and longs to return to a planet he might never see again. Kindra wakes in the middle of the night, haunted by memories of the man she helped to kill. She begins to wonder if being a part of Fleet was ever the right choice for her. Behind them, a threat once considered dormant stirs to life again with one last desperate grab for power. Their actions will threaten the fragile peace in the galaxy. Tev, Kindra, and the crew of the Destiny must compete in an interstellar race against a foe of staggering power.
FIVE AGAINST ONE… It was supposed to be just another exercise—a Star of light ’Mechs against one assault ’Mech. Jackson is a ristar cadet in Clan Smoke Jaguar, renowned—and envied—for never losing a battle. The five cadets beneath him in the rankings plan to hand him his first defeat. But the training goes terribly wrong, and before the day is over, there are winners and losers—and one cadet will not survive the day. That training exercise sets in motion a chain of actions that encompasses both events that occurred decades earlier, and those yet to come. Now a full MechWarrior, Star Captain Jackson searches for answers—both about his past, and what had happened that fateful day. But what he learns are secrets that threaten to upend his entire life—and make him reconsider what it means to be a Smoke Jaguar…
Adrian and Ray Porter have spent their lives battling demons that claw into our world through a thin spot: a hellish and dead place with a black lake at its center, nicknamed "The Gore Point." But as the rifts begin to change and grow for the first time in decades, can they keep the planet from becoming Hell itself? Adrian and his hotshot brother Ray work for Brigade One, in the walled-off city of Fortune on the outskirts of the Gore Point. Like their father before them, it's the Porters' job to protect citizens from the creatures that emerge from rifts opening inside the dead zone. Nobody knows what the Gore Point is or where it came from. It cannot be eradicated. It cannot be closed. The Brigades can only offer triage. Demons have always come through ... and the only solution is to slaughter them when they do. These days, few people die from the spawn that infiltrate Fortune from its rotted middle ... though as children, Ray and Adrian vividly remember watching their father do exactly that. But something has always struck intellectual Adrian as wrong about that day. The thing that killed their father (an enormous red beast called a hellbringer) wasn't supposed to be there. Adrian suspects there's something beneath the simplicity of modern riftfare, but bullheaded, showboating Ray thinks he's crazy. Until one day, when the rifts suddenly and inexplicably change. It starts to look like Hell has been sandbagging to lull us into complacence ... with help from a saboteur on the inside.
RECRUITS WANTED! Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine transports you to the blistering, hard-hitting BattleMech conflicts that ravage the war-torn future of the 31st century and beyond! A young Jade Falcon cadet must prove her mettle in a Trial of Position against a cunning opponent if she is going to become part of her struggling Clan’s future. Elite aerospace pilots from the Outworlds Alliance and the Snow Ravens meet in a clash for the ages, and a veteran wielding only an implement of peace stands up to defend his home against unusual invaders. In this issue, you’ll sign up for a notorious mercenary unit and fight through your first day on the job. You’ll jockey to be first across the finish line in a hovertank race fraught with danger. You’ll chase the glory days of a once-noted BattleMech manufacturer in a quest to reinvigorate a declining enterprise and secure your birthright. Will you defeat your demons from the Battle of Tukayyid during battle with would-be conquerors? Will you escape from murderous cartel members, or succumb to the elements in the unrelenting, sun-beaten desert? Load your chamber with technical articles, a Northwind Highlanders unit digest, a MechWarrior’s catalog of cockpit must-haves, a snow-filled RPG adventure, a BattleForce scenario, and more—all by BattleTech veterans and new enlistees: Tom Leveen Bryan Young Russell Zimmerman D. G. P. Rector W. T. Brown James Hauser Chris G. Lane R. J. Thomas Phillip Johnston Alayna M. Weathers James Bixby Étienne Charron-Willard Matthew Cross Wunji Lau Eric Salzman Tom Stanley Stephen Toropov
TRADITIONS RUN DEEP… Most mercenary units fly flags on two flagpoles at their headquarters: one with their unit’s flag, and other bearing the flag of their current employer. However, the Third Regimental Combat Team—a.k.a. the Eridani Light Horse—leaves one flagpole bare, as a reminder of the death of the Star League, and the other pole flies the Light Horse’s unit and regimental flags at half-mast. What triumphs and tragedies shaped the Eridani Light Horse and its traditions? What drove them to become a force to be reckoned with, an elite mercenary unit with one of the longest histories and the deepest traditions in the Inner Sphere? Now, collected for the first time, nine of BattleTech’s finest authors bring the legacy of this storied unit to life like never before. Witness the Eridani Light Horse’s origins in the Star League, and follow their evolution all the way through the Succession Wars and the Clan Invasion to their downfall during the Dark Age and their resurrection in the uncertain future of the ilClan era. Featuring stories from: Joel Steverson Craig A. Reed, Jr. Chris Hussey Randall N. Bills Jason Hansa Daniel Isberner Alan Brundage Jason Schmetzer Michael J. Ciaravella
The Encyclopaedia of Australian Metal presents pictures, biographies and discographical information on more than 2000 metal and heavy rock bands from all parts of Australia - from the early 70s pioneers like AC/DC, Buffalo and Rose Tattoo to the current breed: Psycroptic, Parkway Drive, Ne Obliviscaris and more.
ALL OR NOTHING... It is 3071, and holy Jihad rages in the Inner Sphere. Safe on worlds claimed two decades earlier, Clan Jade Falcon watches its enemies tear themselves apart. But a new threat is bearing down on the Falcons. Clan Ice Hellion, another of Kerensky's Clans, has traveled the winding Exodus Road to attack its warrior brethren—for while the Clans hunger to conquer the Inner Sphere, they are warriors, and they have little qualm warring amongst themselves for advantage. Khan Connor Rood of the Ice Hellions knows his Clan is taking a desperate risk. Victory over the Jade Falcons will give the Hellions a place in the Inner Sphere, new worlds to conquer and exploit. It will place them among those rarified Clans who are not trapped in the distant Clan homeworlds. It is a bold plan. It could easily fail. For the Jade Falcons have been warned of the Ice Hellions' approach, and powerful and veteran Jade Falcon BattleMechs are turning to meet them. Can Rood and his Hellions defeat the forewarned Falcons? With Jihad raging in front of them and genocidal wars of reaving consuming the Clan homeworlds behind them, can the Hellions survive?
